Abstract
BackgroundHuman papillomavirus (HPV) causes cancers in men, including penile, anal, and oropharyngeal cancers. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the prevalence, the genotypes, and the risk factors of HPV infections in the oral cavity, compared to those in the genitals, among males diagnosed with sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in Vietnam.MethodsOral, urinary, penile, and urethral samples were collected from 198 male Vietnamese patients with STIs (median age 31.0 years, range 17–68). HPV DNA was isolated and amplified with PCR, with modified and/or original GP5+/GP6+ primers. Samples were genotyped with a gene array assay and/or population sequencing.ResultsHPV DNA was detected in 69 (34.8%) of 198 patients. Of these, 16 patients (8.1%) had infections in the oral cavity and 58 (29.3%) had infections in the genitals (4.5% in the urine, 25.8% in the penis, and 8.1% in the urethra). The concordance of HPV infections between the oral cavity and the genitals was poor (kappa = 0.01). Of the 16 patients with oral HPV DNA, 11 (68.8%) had no HPV DNA in the genitals. In the remaining five patients, HPV DNA was found at both sites, but only one showed similar strains at both sites. In the other four patients, the HPV genotypes were completely discordant between these sites. HPV18 was the most common high-risk HPV genotype in both oral (9/16, 56.3%) and genital (10/58, 17.2%) sites. Multivariable analyses showed that older age (OR 1.05), higher education (OR 2.17), and no knowledge of STIs (OR 4.21) were independent risk factors for genital HPV infections; in contrast, only older age (OR 1.05) was an independent risk factor for oral HPV infections.ConclusionsThe low concordance of HPV genotypes between oral and genital infection sites suggested that the acquisition, persistence, and/or clearance of HPV infections were different between these sites. Although HPV DNA was detected significantly less frequently in oral samples than in genital samples, oral samples should also be used for HPV screening in men.
Highlights
Human papillomavirus (HPV) causes cancers in men, including penile, anal, and oropharyngeal cancers
In this study, we investigated the prevalence and genetic profiles of HPV infections in the oral cavity and compared them to the prevalence and genetic profiles of HPV infections in the genitals of male patients diagnosed with sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in Hanoi, Vietnam
Among males with STIs in Hanoi, the prevalence of oral HPV infections was 8.1%, which was higher than that observed in Greece (3.7%) [12], but lower than that observed in the United States (15.3%) [20], Japan (18.8%) [18], and Italy (37.0%) [21]
Summary
Human papillomavirus (HPV) causes cancers in men, including penile, anal, and oropharyngeal cancers. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the prevalence, the genotypes, and the risk factors of HPV infections in the oral cavity, compared to those in the genitals, among males diagnosed with sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in Vietnam. Human papillomavirus (HPV) causes the most common sexually transmitted infection (STI) worldwide. In 2012, there were an estimated 66,000 new cases of HPV-related cancers in men [4], including 17,000 anal cancers, 13,000 penile cancers, and 24,000 oropharyngeal cancers [4, 6]. It is noteworthy that the number of new HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer cases in men increased from 17,000 in 2008 to 24,000 in 2012, worldwide [6, 7]
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